Science events at Edinburgh Fringe 2017

I spent most of last week at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It’s on during all of August, with hundreds of shows in many venues throughout the city. Some are in theatres, others in university lecture rooms, in arts spaces, pop-up venues, or rooms above bars. The schedule is a thick catalog of comedy and other events. It’s impossible to see everything.

In the few days I was at the Edinburgh Fringe, I managed to catch about ten different shows or events. Three of them were science-themed, and you know I’m all about seeing science on stage.

Agony Auncles of Science

Have a problem in your life? Submit it to the Agony Auncles and they will solve it on stage, with science. The first half of the show is problem-solving by a panel of scientists/comedians. The second half is a standup act by one of the panelists.

Rap Guide to Consciousness

A fast-paced introduction to the science of consciousness. When do human babies develop consciousness? Do animals have it? If we could map all brain activity to individual neurons, could we build a robot brain, and would that have consciousness? All of this is addressed in the show – as a rap.

Vagina Museum exhibit

The Vagina Museum is Florence Schechter’s project to launch the world’s first museum about the science, culture and history of half of the population’s genitals. During the Fringe, the museum has a mini exhibit in Woodland Creatures on Leith Walk. We stumbled upon this one by chance, so who knows what else the Fringe is hiding!

For even more science events at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, see this Wired article, listing their top seven science shows. There were still more, including several kids shows, but it’s not even possible to see all the science shows at the Fringe, that’s how big it is!

And here’s a short travel video of my trip to the Fringe. (Which YouTube for some reason flagged as not being suitable for all advertisers. But why? Is it the shot of the beer glass? That’s the only thing I can think of…)

Eva Amsen is a writer, science communicator and blogger. She has been writing about science and scientists in art/culture/life since 2005, both on this blog and for other sites and publications.
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